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Medical Geology Newsletter December 2011 MEDICAL GEOLOGY NEWSLETTER International Medical Geology Association Website: www.medicalgeology.org Newsletter No. 19 ISSN 1651-5250 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDICAL GEOLOGY. GEOMED2011 BARI, ITALY September 20-25, 2011 CONFERENCE REPORT P. 23 AWARDS P. 25 Inside this issue: MESSAGE FROM THE 2 CHAIRMAN IMGA NEWS 3 IMGA ON THE WEB 4 CHAPTERS 5 CHAPTER REPORTS 9 CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE 16 NOTICES 19 PAST EVENTS 21 BARI: GEOMED2011 23 BARI: Awards 25 UPCOMING EVENTS 44 th Saverio Fiore, Chairman of the 4 Interna- ARTICLES: BALNEOLOGY 48 tional Medical Geology Conference, IN NIGERIA GEOMED 2011 (left) and Chair, IMGA, GEOMED 2013 Student BOOKS 56 Jose A. Centeno (right) travel fund see page 47. HIGH LEVEL OF IMGA ACTIVITY: EXTENSIVE CHAPTER REPORTS, PAST EVENTS (INCLUDING GEOMED 2011) AND UPCOMING EVENTS. MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN Dear Friends and Colleagues, Although progress has been made, much more can be done to serve the needs of the growing Medical Geol- It has been an honor, privilege, and pleasure serving ogy community. I, therefore, call on you to step up as your Chair these past two years and I look forward and volunteer your services to the Association by with enthusiasm to my new term. Despite the wide- contacting me to indicate which committee you spread economic and political uncertainties, 2011 would like to serve on. was a remarkable year for Medical Geology and for the International Medical Geology Association Additionally, please make plans to attend the next (IMGA). Among the highlights for 2011 was that IMGA conference which will be held in the fall of our paid membership grew to 316. Also, the number 2013 in the Washington, D.C. area, which is being of IMGA Chapters has increased significantly, in- organized under the leadership and guidance of Prof. cluding the 250 member Geology and Health Divi- Syed E. Hasan and Bob Finkelman. The conference sion of the Geological Society of America, and still will be hosted by our Honorary Chapter – the GSA other chapters are in the process of forming. Cer- Geology and Health Division and will be co-hosted tainly one of the highpoints for our Association was by the U.S. Geological Survey. Progress of the con- the highly successful 4th International Conference on ference will be posted on our web site at regular in- Medical Geology (GEOMED 2011) held in Bari, It- tervals. Also, please consider contributing to the aly, which attracted the participation of over 280 par- newly established student travel fund. The fund will ticipants from over 50 countries. You can find other help defray the costs of deserving medical geology accomplishments of the Association in this Newslet- students who wish to attend the conference. By the ter and on our web site. With these successes in mind way, we have already received two exciting propos- I want to express my personal appreciation and the als for the 2015 medical geology conference. With appreciation of the Association to Phil Weinstein, the your help the next several years could be even more outgoing Co-chair for medical science and the outgo- productive than this past year. ing councilors, Umran Dogan, Fiona Fordyce, and Nelly Manay for their dedicated service and commit- Finally, as we approach the end of what has been a ment to IMGA. At the same time I wish to welcome remarkable year for IMGA, I will like to take this Nelly Manay, the incoming Co-Chair for medical sci- opportunity to thank you all for your continuing com- ence and incoming councilors Maria Armienta, Mark mitment, support and contributions to IMGA. I wish Cave, and Chaosheng Zhang, who will join the Ex- you and your families happy Holiday Season, and a ecutive Committee and help to continue the upward joyful and prosperous New Year 2012. trend of the IMGA. I am also delighted to announce the appointment of our dear friend Bob Finkelman as Respectfully, our new Senior Advisor for IMGA. Bob’s lifetime numerous contributions to our Association have been Jose A. Centeno key in developing medical geology worldwide, and Chairman, International Medical Geology Associa- we are looking forward to many more years of out- tion standing work on his new position as Senior Advisor to our Association. The Association is particularly indebted to Prof. Saverio Fiore and his colleagues for the fantastic job they did in organizing the wonderfully successful In- ternational Conference on Medical Geology (GEOMED 2011) in Bari. Saverio and his col- leagues have, once again, raised the bar and set a new standard for future Medical Geology conferences. Page 2 MEDICAL GEOLOGY NEWSLETTER IMGA NEWS IMGA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The current Executive Committee, which serves until the end of 2011 is: Chair, Jose A. Centeno, PhD, FRSC Chief, Division of Biophysical Toxicology The Joint Pathology Center, Depleted Uranium and Embedded Fragment Laboratory Malcolm Grow Medical Center 1057 West Perimeter Road, Bldg 1050, Room GB-33 Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington, MD 20762 Phone (Office): (240) 857-6882; Email: [email protected], [email protected] Co-Chair for geoscience: Olle Selinus Co-chair for medical science: Philip Weinstein Linneaus Universtity School of Population Health, Kalmar, Sweden University of South Australia [email protected] Adelaide, Australia [email protected] Secretary: Dr. Karin Ljung (Karolinska Institute, Sweden) Medical Councillor : Prof. Dr. Eduardo Santini-Araujo (Argentina) Geoscience Councillor: Prof. Dr. Theo Davis (South Africa) IMGA Committee Chairs: Bylaws Committee : Prof. Dr. Saverio Fiore (Italy) Education Committee: Prof. Dr. Claire Howell (UK) Student Committee: Dr. Ana Maria Rojas (Colombia) Funding Committee: Prof. Dr. Jiin-Shuh Jean (Taiwan) NEW IMGA COUNCIL According to the bylaws IMGA, in autumn 2011, through its nomination committee proposed certain changes in the council, including that councillors serve for two terms, which means that some councillors must be re- placed. After voting by the IMGA members the council from January 1 2012 will be as shown below, with other changes likely during the year: Chair: Jose Centeno Co-chair geosciences: Olle Selinus Co-chair medical sciences: Nelly Manay (NEW) Secretary: K Ljung Björklund Treasurer: David Slaney Editor: David Elliott Web master: Karin Ljung Björklund Councillors: Eduardo Santini-Araujo Theo Davies Chaosheng Zhang (NEW) Hisashi Nirei Mark Cave (NEW) Maria Armienta (NEW) Page 3 MEDICAL GEOLOGY NEWSLETTER IMGA NEWS NEW BYLAWS A new Constitution and Bylaws were also adopted after voting by the members. NEW POLICY BOOK. The International Medical Geology Association Policy Book contains a record of decisions made by the IMGA Executive Board that has broad, long-lasting effects on the Association. The Policy Book will be continuously updated and should be recognized as a complement to the Constitution and Bylaws. The contents of the policy book are as follows: Committees of IMGA Membership and dues Advisors Medical Geology Regional Divisions Awards of IMGA Short courses Code of Practice for Symposia Medical Geology Newsletter Policy The new bylaws and the Policy Book will be posted on the IMGA website at the beginning of January. IMGA ON THE WEB The IMGA website contains information on how to join IMGA, current events, publications and links to other sites of interest and was updated during the year and can be found at: http://www.medicalgeology.org/index.htm Other Medical Geology websites: http://proj.ncku.edu.tw/imgatwn/ (Taiwan Chapter website) https://sites.google.com/site/grupodegeologiamedicayforense/ (Colombian website in Spanish) https://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Medical-Geology-Association- IMGA/217954944942790 (Facebook, IMGA) https://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Medical-Geology-Association-Taiwan- Chapter/141527755859166 (Facebook, Taiwan Chapter) https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117427695222 (Facebook Medical Geology group) https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49042249088 (Facebook, Colombian chapter) http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2857479&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr (Medical Geology group in Linkedin) Page 4 MEDICAL GEOLOGY NEWSLETTER CHAPTERS To expand and develop the IMGA community world-wide, IMGA is encouraging the establishment of Local Chapters (i.e., groups) within individual countries. The aim is that IMGA Local Chapters are established by local groups of enthusiasts interested in Medical Geology. The IMGA bylaws state that: Chapters are groups within a region bringing together people in an area (city, country, etc.) or in an organi- zation (university, government agency, etc.) interested in Medical Geology. All members of the Chapter must be members of the Association. A Chapter must consist of at least five (5) members. To be recognized as a for- mal Chapter the members must send a request to the IMGA Committee. Upon approval a certificate of recog- nition will be issued. Chapters are a way to "locally" facilitate the growth of Medical Geology. The concept of developing "Chapters" is a fundamental basis by which larger societies strengthen their regional and eventually their na- tional development. Chapters are designed to operate within the "confinements" of their locality and therefore they are complimentary to the Regional Divisions of IMGA and shall not compete with the Regional Divisions which are regional, in most cases involving several countries. Members of chapters pay individual dues to IMGA central (see the IMGA web-site for details). All affiliated organisations, including Chapters, must send regular reports for the newsletter. Each Chapter must consist of at least 5 members in order to be recognised by the IMGA Committee. There are no rules as to how each Local Chapter should be organised. Each Local Chapter can decide the structure that is best for their needs depending on the activities that they plan to organise in their region. However, it is recom- mended that each Local Chapter appoints a Chairman who heads the Chapter and liases with the IMGA Com- mittee. Chapters may also want to appoint a Secretary to help take the minutes of meetings, etc.
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